OK, so you’re zipping through the parking lot at Publix. You run the stop sign. You assume that since you are on private property, the police are not going to give you a ticket. NOT SO FAST. While the police may not routinely patrol parking lots looking for traffic violations, if they are there and observe the offense, you are probably going to get a ticket.

Anyway, below is the excerpt from a recent Advisory Legal Opinion of the Attorney General of Florida that confirms that municipal police in Florida are authorized under state law to enforce traffic laws on private property “whereever the public has a right to travel by motor vehicle.”  The Opinion also allows such enforcement on private roads under certain circumstances:

“This office has previously stated that the provisions of Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, are enforceable on private property only when the public has a right to travel by motor vehicle on such property.[2] This conclusion was based on the language of section 316.640, Florida Statutes, which provides, in part, that counties and municipalities shall enforce state traffic laws on all streets and highways “wherever the public has the right to travel by motor vehicle.”[3] It is the availability of the area or place for travel and the right of general and common use that makes certain private property subject to public
control pursuant to Chapter 316, Florida Statutes.

“Thus, municipalities have enforcement authority with respect to traffic violations and accidents occurring on “private property” where the public has the right to travel by motor vehicle, such as in shopping centers and parking lots. In 1987, however, section 316.006,
Florida Statutes, was amended to supply additional authority for municipal law enforcement officers to enforce traffic laws on certain private property.[4] As amended, section 316.006 (2)(b), Florida Statutes, provides:

“‘A municipality may exercise jurisdiction over any private road or roads, or over any limited access road or roads owned or controlled by a special district, located within its boundaries if the municipality and party or parties owning or controlling such road or roads provide, by written agreement approved by the governing body of the municipality, for municipal traffic control jurisdiction over the road or roads encompassed by such agreement. . . . ‘”

Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.